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4. Applications & Techniques (contd.)
© LA Audio 2004
15
technique is quite common in recording or production studios to tailor a sound for its
eventual reproduction medium.
c) Elimination of "sibilance"
Sibilance is the noise which occurs when someone is speaking who either has a
"hissy" voice or who is using words with the letter ‘s’ in them, e.g. ‘sibilance’. This can
become annoying to a listener and the graphic equaliser can be used to overcome this
problem by either removing or reducing the offending frequency.
Graphic equalisers can also be used in conjunction with compressors to create a ‘de-
esser’, which can respond to ‘s’ sounds in a signal and reduce the level accordingly. To
create this effect, insert the graphic EQ into the compressor’s sidechain and boost the
frequencies in which the sibilance occurs. While this seems counterintuitive, boosting
increases the compressor’s sensitivity to these frequencies, meaning that when they
are most present, the compressor will reduce the signal level, thereby stopping the
sibilance from reaching its full volume. Because the EQ is inserted into the
compressor’s sidechain and not the signal path, the EQ boost will be inaudible at the
compressor’s output.
d) Elimination of "proximity effect"
Cardioid microphones usually have a low frequency emphasis, which in certain
situations can present problems. For example, speech over a public address system
can sound muffled and lose intelligibility if the microphone’s response is particularly
bassy. The graphic equaliser can eliminate this by reducing or removing the unwanted
frequency.
e) Sound effects
By using the graphic equaliser creatively a sound may be completely changed and
effects obtained. The most common sound effect created in this way is the "telephone
voice" which can make even an expensive studio microphone sound like a telephone
handset. To create this effect, first set the hi-pass filter to its highest frequency
(160Hz). Then cut completely frequencies between 20 and 315Hz and those between
4 and 20kHz. The remaining band is roughly equivalent to the bandwidth of a phone
line.